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nHannah answered calmly, “I just went out to buy the Young Master’s toys at Lady Astelle’s order. I went with the attendant of the annex.”

nKaizen sent someone to the annex to call the attendant Hannah was talking about.

nThe maid, who had gone under his orders, returned with the attendant.

n“We’ve never been to anywhere other than the general store. The shopkeeper will testify,” the attendant said clearly.

n“The ring is not poisonous, the teacup is not poisonous, and the maid hasn’t been to a suspicious place.”

nKaizen turned to the Marchioness with annoyed eyes.

n“Why the hell did you make this fuss?”

n“Y-Your Majesty……”

n“How did you know that the maid had been out and about?”

nThe Marchioness realized her own mistake and fell to her knees on the floor.

n“Your Majesty. It’s all my fault…… I only believed the words of my maid and made this mistake……”

nThe Marchioness dripped tears as she lamentedly begged for forgiveness.

nAs she wept, she blamed her maid for giving her the wrong information.

nKaizen did not fall for such an obvious trick.

nHe pointed towards Astelle and ordered, “Apologize to her if you know it was a mistake.”

nThe Marchioness bit her lower lip as she turned her body towards Astelle.

nShe then bowed her head deeply and she apologized.

n“I made this mistake because I misunderstood the situation. I’m really sorry.”

nAstelle silently accepted her apology without saying anything.

nKaizen gave Florin a cold command, “Go back to the capital with the Marchioness immediately.”

nAstelle looked at Florin, who stood silently, for a moment.

nFlorin’s cute face was terrifyingly expressionless.

nShe was as expressionless as a statue, but when Kaizen and her eyes met, she instantly changed to a bewildered expression as if she were wearing a mask.

nKaizen’s added, “And tell the Marchioness to stay in the mansion for the time being. Until the disposition is decided.”

nIt meant that the Marchioness was under house arrest.

nFlorin realized that the emperor was no longer in the mood to say anything. She silently bowed her head and walked away.

n***

n“Lady Astelle. It’s not what you promised, is it?”

nAfter a brief storm passed and the tea party was over, Vellian came up to Astelle and asked.

nAstelle widened her eyes as if confused by what he was talking about.

n“I kept my promise. I didn’t touch the Marchioness, did I?”

n“What the hell……”

nVellian covered his eyes with his hand and let out a long sigh.

nHe looked very distressed, but unfortunately, Astelle had no sympathy.

nHe sighed and said, “Well, from the beginning, I didn’t think this tea party would end normally.”

n“So, was it the reason you brought His Majesty here?”

nDid you think that if you bring the emperor, nothing will happen?

nVellian did not answer. Instead, he questioned Astelle, “Are you satisfied now that you made a big deal out of tricking that foolish Marchioness?”

n“I am,” Astelle answered frankly.

n“To be honest, I’m glad that dangerous woman has disappeared from Theor’s side.”

nAstelle wanted to get rid of the Marchioness.

nSo she had Hannah show a vial in advance of the Marchioness’ spy and put some powder in the Marchioness’s teacup.

nThe powder on her teacup was elaine berry powder.

nThe fruit of the Elaine tree had no taste or smell when ground into a powder. It was a necessary ingredient for making nutritional supplements.

nDried Elaine berries have been in Astelle’s medicine box since she first left the Carlenberg mansion.

nGrind the blue Elaine fruit well, add the burned pigment, and combine to form a deep purple powder.

nAfter kneading it and spreading it thinly, tear it up a little bit by hand, and put it in a glass bottle to make it look like purple petals.

nOf course, if you look closely, you will quickly notice that it is strange.

nIt’s hard to tell them apart from a glance.

nThe Marchioness was terrified, thinking Astelle would retaliate against her.

nSo she was easily caught up in such a simple thing.

n“I am very glad that Lady Astelle is satisfied.”

n“Thank you for your help, Count.”

nAstelle bowed her head slightly and expressed her gratitude.

nVellian looked at her in shock and spit out curse-like words.

n“If you go to the capital, you will meet the people of the Croychen again. What are you going to do then?”

n“It doesn’t matter. I’ll go to the capital and go back right away. No matter how much the Croychens resent me, they wouldn’t bother trying to harm me in such a sensitive situation.”

nFlorin was being chosen as the future empress. There is no reason for Croychens to do dangerous things to harm the former empress.

n‘I don’t know about the other Croychens, but Marquis Croychen or Florin wouldn’t make such a choice.’

n***

n“Hey, sweetheart…… that……”

nAs she stood in front of the dressing table, the Marchioness of Croychen wept as she looked back at her daughter sitting by the window.

n“His Majesty was so angry……”

nFlorin sat by the window and didn’t even move.

nA view of the garden could be seen through the window.

nMany red roses were in full bloom in the garden.

nThe strong scent of roses permeated the warm wind.

nBut in Florin’s eyes, the whole thing was just annoying.

n“Hey Florin, are you listening to me?”

nThe Marchioness got mad at Florin as she walked towards the window.

nFlorin then turned her gaze to her mother.

n“Hey! Heeeey! Are you listening to me?!”

n“It happened because my mother made up such a stupid thing, so what should I do now?”

nFlorin looked at her mother coldly and said, “What on earth were you thinking of doing that? What benefit would you have from doing something like that?”

n“What are you talking about?”

n“My mother was trying to torment her nephew but it failed, so she devised all of this.”

n“That……that because she was so arrogant……!”

nWe can’t choose who our parents are, but wouldn’t it be better not to have such stupid parents?

nFlorin had such a ruthless thought for a moment.

n“So, did you make me and my father in trouble just because you were in a bad mood? Just because of your pride?”

nIt was the same today.

nHer mother fell into the trap so obvious.

nThe Marchioness did not answer.

nFlorin shook and turned her head.

n“I have nothing to say, so please leave. My head hurts and I need to rest.”

nIt was too rude to say to her biological mother, but the Marchioness was not angry with Florin.

nBecause her husband, Marquis Croychen loved Florin the most in the family.

nHe said that only this shrewd second daughter resembled himself, and he devoted to Florin who was weak since childhood.

nFlorin closed her eyes as she sat back on the chair.

nAs the room became quiet, a voluminous woman approached Florin.

nFlorin asked, “Nanny, did you know that I want to know about Astelle?”

n“Yes, Lady.”

nThe nanny answered, putting a warm blanket over Florin’s shoulder.

n“I have done everything I can find out about the former empress.”

n“I want to hold onto her weakness just in case. How about that? Anything special?”

n“There was nothing special about her. She lived in the countryside all six years. The female pharmacist used to come and go a long time, but it was probably because of the child, her nephew.”

n“I see.”

nFlorin also took medicine every day when she was young.

nShe was so weak that she couldn’t even come to the capital.

nAt that time, the Croychen family was not very wealthy.

nIf Florin wasn’t clever, her father wouldn’t have paid for her medicine properly.

nHowever, after proving that Florin was clever and useful enough, her father suddenly began to pay attention to her.

nThanks to this, she was able to recover her health and joined the social circle in the capital as well.

nAs she closed her eyes and recalled the past, she heard the nanny’s voice, “But the maid who was working in the Castle of Maern said something strange.”

n“Huh?”

nFlorin woke up to the nanny’s words.

nThe nanny spoke with a meaningful expression, “She heard it when she went to the hunting lodge. The child called Lady Astelle ‘mom’.”

n“……what?”

nFlorin blinked at the unexpected word.

nBut she soon laughed.

n“What’s weird about that? I used to call my nanny ‘mother’ when I was a child.”

n“It was.”

nFlorin smiled and spoke again after a moment’s thought, “I should also find out about the child’s birth.”

n***

nThe next few days passed quietly.

nAstelle didn’t even step out of the annex because she had to take care of her grandfather.

nA few days passed in a flash, and the day of the ball finally arrived.

n‘Finally.’

nAs soon as she opened her eyes in the morning, the tension rose.

nIt was the day of the ball she had been waiting for several days.

nAstelle saw the light of dawn reflected through the window and made up her mind early.

n‘I have to do really well today.’

nIf her plans for today went well, she wouldn’t have to worry about anything anymore.

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